Dibs!
by HisSingertoo
Summary: Ever want to be the mouse in the corner just to hear what's said?  Okay, then, start reading now!  Another little one-shot just for you.


**Dibs!**

Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns these characters and the original story line. I'm just playing around, filling in an idea of what might have happened where she didn't tell us. No infringement intended.

Felix walked down the long corridor to his quarters. He could have been moving much faster, but he was pleasantly satisfied, so he was moving at a decent vampire amble. His face was slightly flushed. Heidi had provided a good feed, and he was comfortably full. He'd had the lion's share today—after all, he was a big man. And Aro was fair at feeding time. Felix didn't always get enough in chambers, but he accepted what he was given. He could hunt outside the walls when he was off duty. The run to Rome was only about 20 minutes. It was easy, him being so tall. Nice long strides. He smiled at the thought. He might pop out around midnight. That was always a good time to score.

Today, he'd had three adults—two female, one male—and a pre-teen male. They had fought a little. He liked them to struggle a bit. Their fighting was like a human wrestling with a bowl of cooked spaghetti. Comical, but completely ineffective.

The male had swung and connected with Felix's solid chest, breaking three of his knuckles. The man didn't even have time to take his injured hand in his good one before he was drained and unceremoniously dumped on the floor. The slaves would clean up.

The younger female had peed herself when he lifted her and sunk his teeth into her soft neck. Unfortunately, as sometimes happens when he dangled a body so high in the air, most of the pee made contact—with him. One of the bad side-effects of being so tall.

The older one had silently stood in front of him, praying. And he had waited. When she was finished, she had opened her eyes, looked him in his, and smiled. He had smiled back at her. If she was so docile, he could give her a couple seconds to finish her prayer. God couldn't help her, but a complacent meal was always a good thing.

The boy had ran and hid under a bench against the wall, but otherwise he went quietly. His parents were in the crowd, already piled on the floor, so he had probably been in shock. His eyes had been as big as saucers. Felix smiled again when he thought of the cliché.

"Hey, Felix, hold up." Demetri's blurred form came to a stop just as Felix turned to him.

"Hey, Demetri. Did you get enough? Sorry you had to miss the beginning."

"Yeah, I saw Heidi ushering the flock so I had her hold me back a couple."

The two vampires broke out in loud, raunchy laughter. A human witnessing this part of the exchange would have thought they were discussing their sexual conquests of the previous night from the local bar.

"Come on in my room, De, I need to change."

"Yeah, I can tell," Demetri chuckled. This brought on another round of laughter as Demetri followed Felix the few remaining doors to his room and, upon entering, took the modern 3-legged chair in the corner.

To call this a room was another inside joke. Felix's private chamber was as ancient as the rest of the castle, but had been completely remodeled many times over the centuries. The entire castle boasted the most up-to-date fixtures in all things—plumbing, electrical, technical. The plumbing was nice for clean up, the electrical was unnecessary but Aro wanted it so it was there (after all, the slaves worked all hours too and they required the kinds of things electricity provided to be able to function), and the technology was wonderful. No one ever turned down technology.

The suite held a very large sitting room that boasted a large flat screen TV, the desk in the corner held his printer, and another cabinet held a variety of sound equipment. The gramophone on top was almost as old as the cabinet, but inside were some more modern pieces, including a multi-disk CD player. Both it and the TV were connected to his surround sound system. Even Aro had kidded him about having surround sound when he also enjoyed acute hearing. Ah, a man and his toys. He also loved to read and had floor-to-ceiling shelves in an alcove crammed full. Most of Felix's furniture was old and heavy, but he had a smattering of period pieces that gave the room an eclectic feel.

A huge bedroom and a large adjoining bath made up the rest of the suite. While there had been a lot of remodeling in the castle over the centuries, the rooms were still as simple as in the beginning, so the bedroom furnishings included several armoires. After all, closets hadn't existed when the castle was built.

Felix opened the doors on three of the armoires in turn, taking the next item in line from each—a suit, shirt and shoes, and lay them on the bed. His entire wardrobe, at least two dozen pieces of each item, were all the same. The uniform was comfortable, well made, expensive, and fitting for his position. Under garments and accessories were in a large chest of drawers next to the armoires. Unnecessary, but Aro required they appear as civilized as society demanded. After all, they were always meeting new humans, as often for business as for pleasure. He stripped, dumping all of the soiled garments and shoes in the hamper. The slave would take care of it after he left.

"Well, Felix, what do you think?" asked Demetri, rising from the chair to pace the room.

"About what?" Felix asked in return, his deep voice heard as clearly as if he were standing next to Demetri rather than deep into the next room. Just then he turned on the shower and climbed in. Human body fluids were disgusting. Just changing clothes was never enough.

"You know very well what. You couldn't have missed her compelling scent any more than I could. God, she is marvelous."

"Oh, you mean Bella."

"Who else would I be talking about—the bitch that peed on you?" Demetri said with a smirk.

"No, not the bitch. Although, she was rather tasty."

"Well?"

"Well, what? Aro gave his word. She is off limits, unless . . . "

"Yes, go on, unless . . ."

"It ain't gonna happen," said Felix. "You know how Aro thinks. He knows Carlisle and Carlisle won't go back on his word."

"Yeah, but Edward might. You saw his face; he even fought you to save her. He loves her but he also doesn't want to change her."

"But with Aro's decree, he doesn't have a choice." Felix sighed. He didn't like to think that Demetri would try anything behind Aro's back. The Number One Rule, even higher on the list than not becoming known to humans, was to not make Aro dislike you. Because that would cause elimination. No matter whom you were.

"I'm telling you, he'll do it," said Felix.

"If he doesn't do it, I've got dibs." Demetri couldn't resist baiting his friend with another smirk.

"Only if you get there first."

"Oh, I will, my friend, I will. I'm smaller and faster than you."

"In your dreams!"

"Sorry, I don't have any dreams. Haven't for a couple centuries, now. By the way, when did you acquire this?" Demetri said, pointing to the little bright blue 3-legged chair, as Felix entered the sitting room, freshly showered and dressed.

"I got it last week, from dessert that night I went to Venice."

"God, Felix, why don't you just take jewelry or cash like everybody else?"

"You take your souvenirs, and I'll take mine. I like that little chair. Besides, where am I going to spend the cash and who am I going to give the jewelry to?"

"Oh, I happened to notice one of the new slaves watching you leave chambers the other day. She's no Bella Swan, but she is really quite cute, for a human. Besides, if you try sitting in that chair, you'll be kissing your knees for half a second before those little legs flatten out and you find yourself on the floor."

"So what? I like it, I took it. It's mine. I like to look at it, like a work of art. You also know the slaves are off limits without permission. I can't get involved right now. Maybe in a few months, when I make Bella mine. I'm sure Aro will let me have her. He only wants to play with her brain."

"Hey, that might work. I'll drink and change her, Aro will play with her brain, and you can have what's left over. Win-win for all of us."

"Like I said, De, in your dreams. I don't care about her brain, but I'll enjoy the wine and the after spoils. She'll make one hot vamp." That said, Felix opened his door, allowing Demetri to exit first.

"You'd enjoy the wine, but I, my friend, would drink her slowly, savoring."

"You couldn't savor any longer than I can. Besides, the venom takes, what, about 30 seconds to start working. Some savoring. HA! Hmmm. Maybe I do have a little time for play. Did you get the name of that slave? They are a nice diversion. It's just a little paperwork."

-o-

Felix's nose caught the scent as they entered the clearing. He was a little surprised he could smell her so well, considering the drifting smoke. But he also knew if he could smell her, so could Demetri. And he knew what his friend would be thinking, just as well as Edward can. Felix didn't need Edward's special ability to know that. And he hoped Demetri's thoughts didn't upset Edward. He didn't want to have to kill Edward because he attacked Demetri, even if Demetri should deserve it.

Plus, he had to be careful of what Jane would do to any, or all, of them. She is just plain mean and doesn't care who she hurts. And she really hates Bella. At least Bella can't be hurt by her, but if Jane decides to do something because Bella is still human—well, it could get ugly pretty fast.

After hitting the tree line, the four of them took off. So much of the Volturi's power came from their entrances and exits, seeming to float across the ground. Otherwise, they acted just like all vampires. Speed was paramount.

The whole exchange had taken less then 5 minutes, including the few seconds it took to take out that one little female newborn. Felix trailed a step behind Jane and Alex, as did Demetri. Demetri was licking his lips and rolling his eyes and then he looked at Felix.

Felix knew what his friend meant. He wished he could have had a couple seconds with Bella. It had been tough. He'd been fantasizing about her a lot lately. At least he got closer to her this time then Demetri did. He had walked right between a couple of the Cullens as he went to "take care" of the little vampire. Of course, Edward was still between him and her, but that didn't matter. He was now one up on Demetri, having gotten so close.

"Too bad for that newborn," said Demetri. "She was a cute little thing."

Jane snorted. "She was just a child. Much too young for you, Demetri."

"I was willing to take my chances." _Look who's calling whom a child!_

"I bet you were. The Cullens were too eager to adopt her. That's why I made sure they couldn't."

"If it hadn't been the Cullens?"

Jane laughed. "Mmm, perhaps. But I was in a foul mood today."

Demetri didn't say what he was thinking. _Yeah, you're always in a foul mood, Jane. Nothing new about that._ He slowed for a fraction of a second to get a little farther away from her, knowing full well it wouldn't do any good if she struck. But it gave him a small measure.

The run lasted about 2 minutes until they reached the car. The corporate jet was fueled and ready. The ride home was quiet. Another of Jane's stipulations. She was such a bitch when she was brooding, not even allowing a quick bite for any of them before boarding. She stated she'd rather "have domestic."

Once back in Volterra, Demetri and Felix went to the Game Room to shoot some pool. They had an hour before Heidi was due back with the next "tour" and neither was on duty until then.

"Damn, Jane is such a cow. We couldn't talk, we couldn't feed, hell, if we were human she probably wouldn't even have taken a piss break."

Felix recognized the beginnings of Demetri's rant as soon as he had said 'Damn'. "It doesn't do any good to bitch about it, Demetri. You know how she is, and Bella brings out the worst in her."

"Yeah, I know. But, God, all I needed was a second near Bella. She just gets better with age, eh?"

"She's not that much older."

"Mmmm, I think she is. Just imagine how good she's going to taste."

"Like you get to have a glass."

"Soon. Caius is only giving her 6 months, I heard."

"Six months? Why so soon?"

"You know Caius. Just because."

"Shit. That means we have to miss Christmas. I really like Christmas. Dinner is so much tastier because they've all been stuffing themselves for a whole month."

"Do you ever think of anything besides your next feed? So, we'll have to pick up something over there."

"It just won't be the same," moaned Felix.

-o-

Felix sat in his suite in the dark. He was in the worst mood. He'd even yelled at his slave. _Poor little thing. Now I'll have to dazzle her again. I'm sure she's terrified now. Maybe I should just turn her. Shit, more paperwork._

The trip over had taken a long time, collecting all the witnesses and all. The setting had been perfect. He was so ready to snatch up Bella and run. Those had been his orders. God, she really was a hot little vamp.

Now, it was all just a pipe dream. The worst kind. Totally unfulfilled. Aro and Caius had made such a spectacle, and debacle, of the whole thing. _How stupid can they be?_ The Volturi's record had been perfect for the last 1500 years or so and now this. _I wonder if we'll ever live it down? I wonder if Carlisle would consider letting me join his coven? I won't leave Volterra, at least not yet, but it does make me think about the idea. At least, I'd be closer to Bella. I wonder if Edward would share? Nah, I'm sure that would be totally out of the question. Shit! For this I had to miss Christmas dinner._

**xXx**


End file.
